Transport Co’s Need Two Twitter Feeds During Events Like #UKStorm

Before I get into this, I’m not having a go at @eastcoastuk as they’ve been doing a good job in really tough circumstances. It just so happens that I’m in London and have been on the verge of being stuck here for an extra night due to huge disruptions to trains to Scotland – this has meant that I’ve been looking to the East Coast Twitter account for info about trains (that and their site, which at times has been a bit bewildering). The problem is that when a Twitter account is used for customer service, it can very easily be rendered useless as a source of quick sharp news/info…

As you can see, the stream is full of their replies to people, making it a task to scroll through and find the useful info. The solution to this is to have a dedicated account that only tweets key info. I’m not saying that the overall account shouldn’t tweet the info, but by running a dedicated info account alongside the one that answers customer queries, you’re offering a rounded service. It wouldn’t take a huge amount of time to keep the dedicated info account updated, especially if you’re suing a tool such as Sprout Social. Simple enough right? Now, people may tweet the info only account, but clever naming of the feed will reduce this, and a properly filled in bio.

I am now on the train and will be getting into Edinburgh at around 01:00, which makes it a long journey, but I’m looking forward to getting home. East Coast have made wifi free for everybody (even us plebs in standard class) which is a nice touch.